When you visit Frederick’s Cugino Forno, simply point to any one of the 11 featured pies on the menu and and you’ll instantly know why Yelp voted it one of the Top 100 pizza shops in the nation.

The aptly named eatery—which translates to “cousin’s oven” in Italian—is owned and operated by five cousins, including Pat Gio, Erin Yildrim, and Yilmaz Guver. They launched their first store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and have opened four more in the state since. After moving from North Carolina, Gio and Yildrim opened the sixth shop in the old Coca-Cola bottling factory in Frederick in 2017. The pizzeria now sells a whole lot of dough—somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 pies a month.

With its family-style picnic tables, self-serve herb and spice bar, stacks of paper plates, and Mutti tomato cans filled with plastic utensils, the space is casual and comfortable. It’s also a celebration of Italy with Ferrari and Maserati banners, Italian soccer jerseys, and Gio’s green Vespa parked on the patio, though the cousins are not from the country that invented pizza but from neighboring Turkey.

It was Guver who first fell in love with pizza when, during a 2010 trip to Italy, he visited the famed L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Naples (made famous by Julia Roberts’ pizza pilgrimage in Eat, Pray, Love). Guver liked the spot so much, he took a job there to learn the art and science of pizza-making.

Clearly, the budding pizzaiolo—along with his cousins, who did years of pizza research—was a quick study. At Cugino Forno, the oversized pies that arrive on large metal sheet pans are some of the best I’ve eaten outside of Italy, where my sister lived for 20 years. In the Neapolitan tradition, they’re cooked in a wood-fire oven at high heat over molten-hot, volcanic stones for about 90 seconds. The result is a properly blistered crust that’s airy and light and stands up to a layer of San Marzano tomato sauce and puddles of house-made buffalo-milk mozzarella. Most of the raw ingredients are sourced from the Boot Country, including double-zero flour from Piedmont and tomatoes from Mount Vesuvius.

Start with a basic margherita so you can best appreciate the high-quality ingredients (“This is how you can understand a good pizza,” says Gio), then move on to the sweet and spicy Napoletana, laden with spicy sausage, pepper, and cippolini onions.

The shop also carries three types of salad, vibrant with locally sourced vegetables, and a selection of house-made dressings. To complement the meal, there’s beer and inexpensive wine by the glass or bottle. And to add to the excitement, there’s an impressive spinning carousel-style freezer—designed by Ferrari, no less—filled with imported gelato that seems straight from the streets of Sicily, where the artisanal ice cream was purportedly perfected. The gelato is an excellent capper to a meal. But pizza remains the true star.

“Customers tell me it’s the best pizza they’ve ever eaten,” says Gio proudly. “That’s an important compliment, because it’s not likely that this is their first pizza. They’ve often been eating pizza for 25, 30 years—or even more.”

CUGINO FORNO: 1705 N. Market St., Frederick, 240-575-9903. HOURS: Sun.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. PRICES: Pizza: $17.95-23.95; salads: $10.50-11.50; desserts: $5.50-6.50. AMBIANCE: Factory chic.

On a sunny Easter day, people in their Sunday best sit at an altar, with its richly colored stained glass, white marble angels, and Italian oil painting of Mary and Joseph presenting young Jesus to St. Simeon. Beneath the cathedral ceiling, with its pipe organ on the top floor and flickering candelabras on the first, everyone is gathered for a kind of kinship.

But this is dinner service, not a church service, inside Frederick’s Wye Oak Tavern, a deconsecrated church converted into a modern American tavern from brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio. The church was once part of the Visitation Academy, a former convent and Catholic girls’ school now transformed into the Visitation Hotel Frederick, which opened last December.

Given that sharing, celebration, and community are at the heart of dining, it’s an apt metamorphosis for the 1852 historic church that has not been a place of prayer since 2016. The church theme décor is well-executed without being overwrought—the altar is now a well-stocked bar with a top-tier list of spirits including a selection of creative martinis (the aptly named Garden martini with its vegetal St. George Basil Eau de Vie Brandy was a standout); the nave is now a striking dining room with teal textiles and original stained glass by noted German craftsman Franz Mayer.

In the adjacent dining room, forest-green walls and an almost ghostly arboreal wallpaper are meant to invoke the restaurant’s namesake—at nearly 500 years, the Wye Oak in Talbot County was once the oldest white oak tree in the nation until it was felled by a summer storm in 2002.

The Voltaggios are, of course, Frederick’s celebrity chef brothers, who became household names after competing on Bravo’s Top Chef. Bryan famously came in second place to his younger brother on the cooking competition. With restaurants on both coasts, this is their fourth spot together, the first in their hometown—and their most exciting project to date.

Michael says that while they initially pursued their own projects, they’ve finally hit their stride as a team. “I drive a lot of the creative ideas and Bryan, who has an unrivaled work ethic and is one of the best technicians I’ve ever seen, brings them to life.”

As with many of their projects, the brothers’ bent is toward sourcing ingredients that are as sustainable, organic, and regionally rooted as possible. But unlike past projects, Bryan says, “We are less of a multi-course, big-commitment, celebratory experience and more of an everyday restaurant.” Everyday maybe, but hardly ordinary.

Wye Oak focuses on steaks—be it a filet mignon, a New York strip, a 45-day aged Roseda rib-eye, or a signature slow-roasted prime rib encrusted with garlic and mayonnaise and served with a lofty cheddar popover. (The protein is familiar territory, thanks to their Voltaggio Brothers’ Steakhouse at MGM National Harbor.) The meat is enlivened with a slew of creative sauces, like the pit-beef-inspired Tiger Sauce and a selection of steakhouse-style sides that are stars in their own right (the spiced sweet potatoes are among them).

As we’ve come to expect from the Voltaggios, the food is imbued with a boundless sense of playfulness—but never at the sacrifice of taste. That spirit of friskiness and fun is most evident in the appetizers, which arrive with unexpected elements that push the palate—and the imagination.

The smoked beet pastrami—sliced, pastrami-spiced beets, doused with Thousand Island dressing, and lacy squiggles of funnel cake—imparts the slightly sweet and tangy flavors of a Reuben. A fish and chips special features beer-battered puffer fish tails sourced from the Chesapeake, and coddies get coated in crushed Saltines before being fried, then arrive speared on popsicle sticks alongside a cauliflower tartar and mustardy giardiniera garnish to complete the flavor profile.

My favorite appetizer was the shrimp and grits cocktail, featuring four plump Gulf poached shrimp dusted in Old Bay and served alongside a side of shrimp toast made with grits and shrimp mousse. A spicy green cocktail sauce, made with tomatillos and green tomatoes and spiked with horseradish and cracked pepper, provides delicious dipping opportunities for both preparations.

As for the entrees, there’s plenty to accommodate non-steak-eaters, like a swordfish piccata, a clever riff on chicken piccata and a nod to the Voltaggios’ Italian roots. The brown butter, lemon, sage, and caper sauce hits all the right notes: nutty, acidic, sweet, and salty.

Several weeks later, another visit yielded new discoveries, like a refreshing fluke crudo appetizer dotted with blood orange sections, showered with benne seeds, and served with salt and vinegar sweet potato chips for mopping; and a crisp-edged smashburger.

Desserts are also worthy of consideration. The Wye Oak Cake—a sort of tree with log-shaped chocolate mousse cake and chocolate bark that fans out like branches—was an edible work of art, and an apple dumpling, inspired by the annual Apple Dumpling Day tradition at the former all-girls’ school, recalls the cinnamon toast of childhood.

On both visits, service was calm and confident. Our table servers made excellent suggestions, ably answering our questions. (One briefly looked alarmed when we asked, “Isn’t puffer fish toxic?” But after consulting the chef—or Wikipedia—she was quick to reply that the variety from the Bay are safe.)

Wye Oak Tavern is a fitting homage to an important piece of Maryland history. In fact, the State Forest Service still grows seedlings from the ancient oak to preserve its DNA.

Like its namesake, my guess is that the tavern will be here for many years to come

When it opened in 2001, The Tasting Room helped establish Frederick as a serious destination for fine dining. Over the years, its popularity endured even as newer, flashier (and ampersand-loving) restaurants like Thacher & Rye and Truth & Beauty established themselves in the growing historic city, which was the site of several Civil War battles.

Perhaps no one loves The Tasting Room more than Jarrett Walsh, who worked as its general manager for six years, ran his first beverage program there, and, most importantly, met his wife there. But even after he bought it in March 2020 (his timing could have been better), he was determined to build on its reputation, not rest on it. The result is a restaurant that, for having just turned 21, feels remarkably fresh.

When we visited for dinner on a Wednesday night, the dining room, bar, and outdoor tables were filled, creating a place-to-be atmosphere. From the moment we sat down, we could see why. Servers, who have ditched the formal white button-down shirts and ties they used to wear for black shirts and jeans, were prompt, polite, and eminently informed about the house’s offerings.

We started with a round of fantastic cocktails. It’s rare to find a bourbon-based drink that is palatable even for non-whiskey fans, but the Feeling Fuzzy, made with bourbon, rye, peach, lemon juices, cardamaro, and spiced simple syrup, got a thumbs-up from everyone at our table. The Dr. Feel Good, a combination of rum, mango, coconut, and lime juices, mint, and bitters, tastes like adult spring break. And the Sling Back—gin, Drambuie, plum, mango and pineapple juices, passion fruit, grenadine, and angostura—arrived in an ornate, green ceramic glass that would put most tiki bars to shame. Both the cocktail and the vessel that held it seemed to be sending a message: Fun awaits.

Executive chef Richard Falbo took over the kitchen earlier this year, and signs of his vast experience—he’s worked in restaurants from Texas to Hawaii to northern Virginia to upstate New York—are all over the contemporary American menu, which also finds inspiration from around the world.

We started with the Lioni Latticini Brooklyn Burrata, a delectable dollop of the creamy cheese served with bacon jam, orange slices, fennel, curly endive, and, in a first for us, topped with everything seasoning. It was terrific and, most importantly in a world where burrata is popping up on more and more menus, unique. The charred Spanish octopus starter was cooked nicely and served with elements—jalapeños, herbs, and saffron calasparra rice—that added a kick of spice and body to the dish. Our server recommended that we squeeze the clementine orange over it, a good idea that added a nice bit of acidity.

Entrees were just as successful. The Half Poulet Rouge Chicken is Walsh’s favorite dish—and was ours as well. A plump and juicy breast and leg are served with bulgur wheat, spring onion, and a beautifully peppery, garlicky, spicy green harissa that rivals the best versions we’ve had in any Mediterranean restaurant. The spot-on slow-cooked short rib, accompanied by creamy white grits, was shredded finely, and enhanced by its smoky sugo sauce.

Unlike an increasing number of restaurants in its category, The Tasting Room is open weekdays for lunch (and serves brunch on weekends). When we returned a few weeks later for a midday meal, we found a scaled down and less expensive menu. A bowl of lobster chowder, a legacy dish (along with crab cakes and the filet mignon), according to Walsh, is a great way to start a meal no matter when you’re eating it. The broth is rich, and the lobster and corn provide buttery undertones.

In addition to salads, a burger, a Korean fried chicken sandwich, and a pork belly BLT, five lunch entrees are available. We chose the salmon cakes, which came topped with celeriac slaw and pickled celery. The dish is successful because of the sum of its parts. While the fish got a bit lost in the fried breading and the cakes were a tad on the dry side, the creative garnishes and tasty remoulade sauce more than compensated.

On both our visits, the volume inside the restaurant was loud, but thanks in part to high ceilings and walls of windows, not overwhelmingly so. The vibe is upscale but comfortable and not stuffy: casual fine dining as Walsh describes it. No matter how one classifies The Tasting Room, it’s unquestionably an important part of Frederick’s culinary history, and a formidable part of its future.

“You know why women love Claire McCardell?” says sculptor Sarah Hempel Irani. “Because she gave us pockets. And then she gave us flats.”

The only girl of Eleanor and Adrian McCardell’s four children, Claire McCardell was born into a well-to-do family in Frederick in 1905. She climbed trees, rode horses, skied, and acquired the nickname “Kick” for her skill in keeping roughhousing boys at bay. She also made outfits for her paper dolls from her mother’s magazine photos, kept an interested eye on local seamstress Annie Koogle when she sewed clothes for the family, and liked to tear apart her brothers’ less-restrictive clothes to see how they were pieced together.

The visionary behind ready-to-wear fashion for women on the move, she’d later create sporty cycling ensembles for women and incorporate menswear details in her signature designs.

“She wouldn’t have called herself a revolutionary,” Hempel Irani continues, “but what she did was revolutionary.”

McCardell tossed aside girdles, darts, shoulder pads, and unwieldy zippers that ran along the back of garments, as well as Paris fashion trends, and developed the distinctive, mid-century style known as The American Look that embodied both elegant simplicity and practical purpose.

“I like buttons that button and bows that tie,” she once said. More recently, McCardell’s designs served as the go-to fashion inspiration for the Emmy-winning Amazon Prime hit The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

As always, necessity was the mother of her inventions. When leather and rubber were in short supply during World War II, she turned to shoe manufacturer Capezio to help repurpose ballet slippers into functional footwear that fit her designs. To lighten her luggage on her European travels, McCardell created separates by designing dresses with interchangeable blouses and skirts.

Over a groundbreaking career as a designer and businesswoman, she became one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century, according to Life magazine, influencing designers from Diane von Furstenberg to Michael Kors and Donna Karan.

“She modernized the way women dress,” designer Anna Sui told The Washington Post. “Her clothes are timeless.”

Two years ago, the all-women’s Frederick Art Club, founded in 1897, decided the time was long overdue to honor McCardell, whose clothes are part of the collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and the Maryland Center for History and Culture.

Initial plans called for a relatively modest bas-relief sculpture. But as they delved into their subject, they realized they wanted to make a larger statement that would reflect the enormous impact of her democratizing designs for the women of her era, who were seeking freedom and new roles in the workplace and society.

“Newswomen, in particular, were crazy about her,” says Linda Moran, chair of the Art Club’s Claire McCardell Project. “They gave her two Coty Awards.”

Eventually, they commissioned Hempel Irani, an award-winning sculptor who had recently moved back to Frederick, to create a 7-foot-6-inch bronze sculpture to pay homage to the designer in her hometown. (McCardell, whose life and career were cut short by cancer in 1958, is buried in the family plot at Frederick’s Mount Olivet Cemetery.) The bronze statue, with accompanying signage that will share her story, is scheduled for a fall unveiling at the city’s Carroll Creek Linear Park, Fredrick’s popular downtown greenway.

With the endeavor, the Art Club joins a national “break the bronze ceiling” movement to lift more monumental women on pedestals. Currently, less than 7 percent of the more than 5,100 monuments in the U.S. honor women.

As a teenager, Claire McCardell had hoped to study in New York. But, in a sign of the times, her father initially persuaded her to enroll at nearby Hood College in the home economics program. After two years, the somewhat shy, yet unwavering, McCardell moved to the Big Apple and enrolled at the Parsons School of Design.

Single and working for a designer in Manhattan, her big break came at 33 when a buyer for a major retailer noticed the dress McCardell was wearing. It was not a part of the company’s line he’d been shown, but something she had designed. What became known as “the Monastic Dress” hung loosely, but with a versatile belt that could be gracefully tied to follow a woman’s curves. The initial order sold out in a day.

“I’ve always designed things I needed myself,” McCardell later said. “It just turns out that other people need them, too.”

Crème de la Crème
Walls of lavish linens, kitchen accessories, and ornate conversation pieces await you in this Mediterranean-inspired home store. 207 N Market St., 240-651-1714.

Tiara Day
Unleash your inner Marie Antoinette in this ultra-femme, ultra-French boutique full of apparel, accessories, gifts, and jewels. 153 N Market St., 301-694-4911.

En Masse Luxe
Part florist, part gift shop, this self-care mecca carries swanky bath and beauty products, as well as gifts and accessories. 141 N Market St., 240-379-7100.

Velvet Lounge
You’re guaranteed to find something you have to have in this women’s contemporary boutique filled with popular brands such as Free People, Hudson, Wildfox, and Rebecca Minkoff. 203 N Market St., 301-695-5700.

The Muse
The Muse makes it easy to support artists locally and beyond with its carefully curated selection of handmade goods. 19 N Market St., 301-663-3632.

Curious Iguana
This independent bookstore is chock-full of newly released titles and globally diverse works. 12 N Market St., 301-695-2500.

Cafe Nola
With a vast selection of coffees and teas, this cozy café will fulfill all of your caffeine needs. You won’t want to miss out on their signature lattes—try the delectable coconut and vanilla creation they call “Hot Betty White.” 4 E Patrick St., 301-694-6652.

Dancing Bear Toys + Gifts
Children and adults alike will get a kick out of this shop full of battery-free toys and games. 15 E Patrick St., 301-631-9300.

Relish Decor
If Anthropologie’s home selection had a little Frederick baby, this store would be it. It’s loaded with pretty little things for your kitchen, table, or bar. 38 E Patrick St., 301-698-7360.

Venus on the Half Shell
Expertly curated, beautifully merchandised, and full of one-of-a-kind apparel and accessories, Venus on the Half Shell is vintage heaven. 101 E Patrick St., 301-662-6213.

Anam Cara Apothecary
The sign outside of Anam Cara Apothecary reads, “When science meets magic,” and that is exactly what you’ll find when you enter this bright shop with modern fixtures, an array of essential oils and herbal blends, holistic services, and one very friendly feline. 113 E Patrick St., 240-527-1627.

Maven Beauty Bar
Owned by a former cosmetic buyer for Nordstrom, this trendy beauty bar will make you feel like you just stepped off the streets of New York. Get your brows threaded, enjoy a makeup tutorial, and browse the great selection of organic skincare and beauty products, all in one trip. 118 E Patrick St., 240-578-4192.

8/5-20: Restaurant Week
Participating restaurants. Whether it’s brunch, lunch, or dinner, enjoy 15 days of prix fixe menus from 60 of Baltimore County’s top chefs and best restaurants.

8/6: Frederick Wine Festival
Carroll Creek Linear Park, S. Market St., Frederick. At this inaugural festival, feast on eats from local chefs as you wine your way through vintages from Maryland vineyards.

8/6-7: Caribbean Wine Splash
Dove Valley Winery, 645 Harrington Road, Rising Sun. Sip wine, shop local artisans, and soak up the sounds of Caribbean music, steel drums, and reggae in Cecil County.

8/12-13 MD State BBQ Bash
2 S. Bond St., Bel Air. Join thousands of meat lovers for this annual food truck rally and competition for the best barbecue in the state.

8/13: Sip and Stroll
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, 1876 Mansion House Dr. Take an intimate evening tour of the zoo while enjoying wine, beer, and hors d’oeuvres.

8/20: Vegan Soulfest
Baltimore City Community College, 2901 Liberty Heights Ave. Learn about the vegan lifestyle with guest speakers, local purveyors, food vendors, and local artists.

Wheel of Time

August 15, 2015
North Market Street, Frederick

“My strategy is to stay on the far right and not die,” says 58-year-old Nick Ackermann, smiling beneath a bushy mustache and protective headgear that resembles a brimless pith helmet.

Nearby, two-dozen-plus fellow penny-farthing enthusiasts—many, like Ackermann, in tweed and knickers—climb atop 4-foot tall bicycles, preparing for the 4th annual Frederick Clustered Spires High Wheel Race, the only U.S. competition of its kind. Fittingly, a barbershop quartet performs “The Star-Spangled Banner” just prior to the blast of the starter’s horn, which sends the riders scurrying around the .4-mile circuit, ringed with 5,000 spectators.

Proving Ackermann’s point about the danger inherent in navigating a race while mounted on turn-of-the-century-style bikes, there’s a pretty good crash two-thirds of the way through the event.

Ultimately, Angela Long, a senior V.P., mom of two, and avid cyclist, racing in heels no less (“The extra inches to help me climb up,” she says) takes the women’s competition. And Eric Cameron, an Air Force biomedical engineer and runner, takes the men’s title, falling just a lap short of the one-hour course record. A novice who just turned 42, Cameron watched last year from a local pub and jumped at the chance to compete when a friend’s husband, who owns a high-wheeler, suffered an injury this summer.

“I guess now we’ll have to buy him one,” his wife Jill says, standing next to him afterward. “Maybe for his birthday.”

“Or my mid-life crisis,” says Cameron, still breathing hard.

String Theory

July 25, 2015
Eastern Avenue

“Does anybody know what ukulele means in Hawaiian?” Victoria Vox asks the packed beginner’s workshop at the Creative Alliance. Several hands shoot up. “Jumping flea—that’s right,” says Vox, explaining how 19th-century Hawaiians marveled at the quick fingerboarding of migrant Portuguese sugar-cane workers on their native country’s compact instrument. Which, of course, Hawaiians soon made their own, substituting catgut for traditional steel strings. “I’m pretty sure they just got tired of the cuts and blood from those steel strings,” laughs Vox.

The host of the all-day, second annual Charm City Ukulele Festival, Vox, a Baltimore transplant who has graced the cover of Ukulele magazine and tours extensively, is leading three of the seven uke classes—there’s also a Hula workshop—and performing at tonight’s show.

Other ukulelists this evening include Hawaiian-native Glen Hirabayashi, who performs regularly in the region with The Aloha Boys, and Louisa Hall, a Northern Virginia-based songwriter who often infuses her cheerful strumming and pleasing tenor with darker lyrics. Her set includes numbers such as “Irrational Fears,” “Internet Love Song”—a disturbing chronicle of online dating experiences—and “Missed Connections,” an upbeat tune in which she stalks a stranger getting off the D.C. Metro.

“I was attracted to the ukulele because it’s portable fun, but I get creepy and obsessive, too,” Hall says, adding that her musical training consists mostly of singing in the car and listening to Ella Fitzgerald. “I often describe myself as ‘aggressively jolly.’”

Tiny Love Songs

August 9, 2015
Belair Road

The volunteer-run Natural History Society of Maryland, which is hard to miss given the replica dinosaur out front, has its unusual collection of taxidermied wildlife, pressed butterflies, and sea turtle skulls on public display this afternoon. But today’s main attraction is a presentation by entomologist Cathy Stragar called Summer’s Singing Insects, about the katydids, crickets, and cicadas that make up the season’s outdoor chorus.

Stragar, who works at the Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab at the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, explains that many insects make music by a process known as stridulation—or rubbing body parts together at incredibly fast speeds. A male cricket, for example, uses one wing as a plane and the other as a scraper/bow, playing to attract female partners.

Cicadas, however, use a different method, popping an abdominal noisemaker called a tymbal, which can produce sounds over 100 decibels. “Males close their ears to literally prevent them from going deaf,” she says.

Some grasshoppers, on the other hand, emit supersonic sounds that humans can’t hear.

As part of the lecture, the first in a bimonthly series at the Natural History Society, Stragar plays recordings of crickets and cicadas. She notes the local varieties of each as the small but rapt audience nods in recognition of certain familiar chirps and whistles.

“Recently, Jurassic-era cricket sounds were re-created,” Stragar continues, adding that paleontologists have reconstructed the fossil wing structures of the modern crickets’ ancestors. “These tell us a lot about what the world sounded like during that period,” she says, hitting the play button on her laptop. “These are 165-million-year-old songs.”

Here’s one of those truth-is-stranger-than-fiction facts: Some of the best pastrami in Maryland—west of Corned Beef Row, of course—comes from a “culinary tavern” in Frederick run by an Episcopalian from California.

Whose kitchen produces such savory smoked meat? None other than Kim Firestone, 81, the scion of rubber royalty.

“I [couldn’t] imagine being 81,” he says from the third story of the old department-store building that houses his restaurant, Firestone’s Culinary Tavern. Wisps of white hair sneak out from beneath his Firestone’s baseball cap, exactly as they do on the cover photo of his memoir, Reflections on a Silver Spoon: How a Foodie Found Home. “Looking back, I can remember when I would have thought, ‘Seventy, who cares after that?’ Your perspective changes.”

Over the years, his perspective has shifted seismically. The grandson of Harvey Firestone, the founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, Kimball Firestone was born into the good life, but was never fully comfortable with it. For years he searched for fulfillment, taking a series of jobs—some seemingly in stark contrast to his privileged upbringing—before he discovered his true calling.

“He has a background of having the finest, and he passes that on to the customers,” says Kathy Wasley, who has worked for Firestone in a number of ventures for more than 40 years, including at the restaurant. “How you treat the guests, the music, the environment, the quality of the ingredients—everything has to be the way he likes it.”

It’s Firestone’s obsession with quality—without the pretension—that has made the restaurant, in the heart of downtown Frederick, a favorite among locals and out-of-towners alike. “Every day in a restaurant is like starting from scratch,” he’s fond of saying. “It doesn’t matter how good you might have been yesterday; it’s today that counts.”

As he sits in his office on this chilly March Saturday contemplating his journey, he couldn’t be more grateful for his resurrection as a restaurateur. “It changed my life, because it put me into a different orbit,” the affable Firestone says. “I’m involved with these people every day. It’s almost like having another family.”

The one he was born into was among the most notable of 20th-century American business. Harvey Firestone’s timing couldn’t have been better. He started The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, OH, in 1900, just as automobile production was set to explode. It quickly grew to become one of the world’s leading tire manufacturers, posting profits of over $1 million by 1910. (Adjusted for inflation, that’s roughly $25 million today.) A year later, the inaugural Indianapolis 500 was won on Firestone tires, and the brand quickly became a household name.

He can’t recall his parents ever fixing a meal. Not once.

Firestone was just five when his grandfather died in 1938, but by that time his father, Leonard, was ensconced in the family business. Based primarily in Southern California, Len, as his friends called him, played golf and tennis with Hollywood celebrities like Robert Montgomery, and counted President Gerald R. Ford among his friends. At one point, his family lived in a Beverly Hills mansion, but Firestone spent much of his childhood at boarding schools and summer camps. (When he did go to a local school, he was driven there by a chauffeur.) The estate had a pool, a tennis court, and quarters for the staff, including the family cook, Paula. He can’t recall his parents ever fixing a meal. Not even once. Instead, he honed his palate on steak tartare and chicken Kiev at swanky spots like La Rue Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard.

“I wish we’d have had more of a home life,” Firestone says. “We didn’t live like regular folks. We had a lot of help in the house and grew up with things many people didn’t have. Part of what’s motivated me through life is trying to balance that [privilege].”

His collegiate career at Stanford University in the 1950s was interrupted by a three-year enlistment in the army, but, eventually, Firestone graduated with a degree in psychology. After a stint as a reporter at the small Indio Daily News in Southern California, he returned to Stanford for his MBA and worked in investment banking before succumbing to the seemingly inevitable. In 1965, Kim Firestone got into the family business. “I’d avoided connecting with the company,” he says. “But I finally came to the conclusion that maybe I should stop avoiding it and do something for a company that had done a lot for me.”

After various jobs in the financial department at the headquarters of Firestone Tire in Akron, OH, he transferred to Washington, D.C., where he became vice president for government relations. By this time he was settled in suburban Maryland with his wife and five children. On the surface, he seemed to be living the American dream, but he was restless.

Firestone grew up riding horses, and he always appreciated the rhythms and tranquility of farm life—very much the antithesis of the corporate existence he was leading. So in a leap of faith, in 1976, he resigned from the company that bore his name and got into breeding and boarding horses. “He came from an elite environment, but he works like everybody else,” explains Wasley. “He has a farmer’s mentality.”

In 1978, Firestone was adjusting to his new lifestyle when unimaginable tragedy struck. On a sunny summer morning, his firstborn, daughter Kimberley, was killed in a car crash on River Road in Potomac. She was just 16 years old at the time. “It tore me up,” he says, the wound still at the surface decades later. “I was overwhelmed. I felt like I was in a different world for at least six months, because I couldn’t believe it had happened. It had a huge impact on me, and probably my marriage.”

“He came from an elite environment, but has a farmer’s mentality.”

By the early ’80s, the marriage had ended, and, for the first time, Firestone had to fend for himself in the kitchen. “I was cooked for most of my life, by staff, by the boarding schools, by the army,” he says. “When I found myself living by myself on the farm, I thought, ‘I don’t want to go around warming up frozen food,’ so I started to do some cooking and became a decent cook.”

Even as a young boy, Firestone was a bit of a foodie. While at camp one summer, he wrote to his mother, Polly, about a meal in which he’d devoured 11 pieces of watermelon along with chicken, pickles, pickled peaches, and ham-stuffed biscuits. “I ate more than I’ve ever eaten in my life,” he recounts.

Dinners at iconic Los Angeles restaurants such as Chasen’s were treasured, but so were meals in his college dorm, or at an army mess hall. He even enjoyed waiting tables in the dining hall, as a high-school student at The Webb Schools in Claremont, CA. The work seemed to fit his blue-collar ethic. “I enjoyed being part of the action in the kitchen,” he says. “It freed me from having to sit at the table and behave myself.”

When the equine business didn’t pan out (nor did a rather random attempt at shrimp larvae farming in Ecuador), he saw an ad in the Frederick News-Post for a small frozen-yogurt store in a Frederick strip mall, which he bought and transformed into a sandwich shop that also sold baked goods. “I think I have a basic gene of entrepreneurship that takes me off in different directions,” he says. “They don’t all necessarily make sense, but I like to get into new things.”

Clearly, his nomadic nature was aided by a healthy bank account, which he’s reticent to discuss. He will say, however, that while he had sold much of his Firestone stock before the Japanese corporation Bridgestone bought the company in 1988 (a windfall for stockholders), he wasn’t going to starve without gainful employment. “I had a safety net, shall we say, that enabled me to keep going even when things weren’t going particularly well,” he says. “I’m fortunate in that regard.”

And in this one: When the lease on his cafe ran out, Donnelly’s Irish Pub, a longtime Frederick staple, came up for sale. With a prime location on Market Street, Firestone had a hunch it could fit his vision for a “casual but elegant” eatery.

When Firestone’s Restaurant and Bar (later renamed Firestone’s Culinary Tavern) opened in 1999, it was in trouble, because Firestone had a hard time finding the right staff. “I’ve always found the secret to success is getting good people and letting them do their jobs,” he says. Stability came when he hired Jack Walker, who took over as executive chef and stayed for 14 years—an eternity in the restaurant business. Under the direction of Walker (who left in 2013), with plenty of input from the boss, the restaurant acquired a reputation for serving consistently delicious dishes. Top-quality ingredients also have been key to its appeal. “I tried to use the freshest ingredients from as many local purveyors as we could, but still make the menu approachable,” Walker says. “The friendliness of it reflects Kim. He’s very approachable. You can be open with him. That’s the secret of the restaurant. He has a standard he wants to uphold.”

Diners have taken note. The place draws Frederick regulars and visitors from Baltimore and D.C. These days, after eating lunch at the restaurant, Firestone likes to pitch in behind the counter at his next-door market, which sells sandwiches, soups, and staples along with more gourmet offerings like 18-month aged Gouda. His four children and two stepsons are scattered throughout the country with his 13 grandkids, while he continues to live on a Middleton farm in Frederick County with his yellow lab, Chiquita, and a dozen or so chickens. Each morning he feeds his flock and collects their eggs. In the growing season, he tends to the tomatoes and herbs in his garden. Sometimes he plucks basil for the restaurant.

It’s a simple, peaceful existence for a man who took nearly a lifetime to carve out his proper path. “Everybody knows him,” says Gillian Berluti, the manager of the market and Wasley’s daughter. “It’s a passion project. He loves good food and drinks and making people happy. It’s more than just a business—it’s a life.”

Spring is here and joy is returning to Birdland, but with only 81 Orioles home games this season, what’s a diehard fan to do with all those other days? How about a visit to the minor leagues to see where the baby birds grow? Down on the farm, you can actually speak with the players, run the bases after the game, ride a carousel, and take the whole family for less than a C-note.

That’s the magic of minor-league baseball. Herewith, our roundup of the minor-league parks (all less than a day’s drive from Baltimore), with some insider tips from Orioles Super Fan, Army Sgt. Romeo Santos, who catches at least a half-dozen games per park every season and was a finalist in ESPN’s Fan Hall of Fame in 2014. So grab your ball cap and big foam finger and let’s hit the farm!

→ Aberdeen IronBirds
Class A, Short Season, New York-Penn League. Venue: Ripken Stadium, Aberdeen. First Season: 2002. Stadium Capacity: 6,300. Distance From Camden Yards: 35 Miles. It goes without saying that we’d expect a park built by Cal to be the ultimate place to play ball, but it’s a great place to watch it, too. Walking through the main gate provides a panoramic view of the natural-grass field stretching out to the new Orioles orange outfield wall. And the seating bowl is intimate, with fans close enough to chime in on pitcher’s-mound manager chats. Know Before You Go: Ripken Stadium will immediately feel like home to any Orioles fan. In 2014, the IronBirds started wearing orange and black uniforms and The House that Cal Built is a loving homage to both the “Oriole Way” and the “Ripken Way” in every way. The Marriott hotel off the left field line is a dead ringer for the warehouse at Camden Yards, and there is an ever-present nod to the jersey numbers of the Ripkens: Cal Sr. (No. 7), Billy (No. 3), and Cal Jr. (No. 8). The stadium’s address is 873 Long Drive, the power alleys are 378 feet, and even Ferrous (the word means “contains iron”), one of the team’s two mascots, is number 3 7/8. What to Eat: Head straight to Conrad’s Crabs & Seafood Deck for steamed crabs. If there’s anything better than baseball and a pile of steamed crabs, we haven’t found it yet. Bonus: Get great views of the game from the deck. Can’t-Miss Promo: Collectors won’t want to miss the Cal Ripken Jr. Bobblehead 2131 Night on Sept. 2. Famous Alumni: Right-fielder Nick Markakis, now with the Atlanta Braves, played his first pro-season with the IronBirds in 2003. Tip From a Super Fan: IronBirds home-run balls make the best trophies. “Most balls have grass stains on them,” says Sgt. Santos. “If one lands in your crabs, though, it’s got Old Bay on it, and what’s better on a baseball? It doesn’t just look good in your cabinet, it smells good, too!” 873 Long Dr., Aberdeen, 410-297-9292

→ Delmarva Shorebirds
Class-A South Atlantic League. Venue: Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, Salisbury. First Season: 1997. Stadium Capacity: 5,200. Distance From Camden Yards: 119 miles. Let’s just get this out of the way: This Salisbury-based team should have been called the Salisbury Steaks—put a T-Bone on a ball-cap and you’ve got a license to print money. Despite the missed naming opportunity, Perdue Stadium (built, in part, by one of the nation’s largest chicken producers, based on the Eastern Shore) is an amazing place to catch a game. Kids will love team mascot Sherman the Shorebird, and the stadium also has a carousel. (Instagram alert: Ride the giant chicken for a prime photo-op.) For grown-up baseball fans, Delmarva’s classic, three-level brick concourse is a great place to watch baseball. The sightlines are fantastic, and the park has a classic minor-league feel. Thanks to the Eastern Shore’s rich baseball tradition, Delmarva fans are some of the most passionate and knowledgeable anywhere, so if you’ve got a question about the kid on the mound, ask your neighbor. Know Before You Go: Give yourself at least an hour to peruse Perdue Stadium’s Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame, featuring shore natives and baseball legends Jimmie Fox and Harold Baines. What to Eat: There’s a tasty half-pound Angus burger, and shrimp salad is on offer, too, but at Perdue Stadium, eating the chicken is practically required. Hit the “Chicken Fry Fry” stand and ask for anything made from a bird. Can’t-Miss Promo: All of Sherman the Shorebird’s mascot friends will be on hand to celebrate his birthday on May 29! Famous Alumni: Former Oriole (and recently retired Yankee) Brian Roberts played 14 seasons in the majors, but got his professional start in 1999 with the Shorebirds. Tip From a Super Fan: “Go to a day game on the way home from the beach,” says Santos. “You get your baseball, and when the game is over, the traffic is gone!” 6400 Hobbs Rd., Salisbury, 410-219-3112

→ Frederick Keys
Class-A Advanced, Carolina League. Venue: Harry Grove Stadium, Frederick. First Season: 1990. Stadium Capacity: 5,400. Distance From Camden Yards: 49 miles. The IronBirds may play in the house that Ripken built, but Harry Grove Stadium is the park that Francis Scott Key haunts. “The Star-Spangled Banner” author’s grave lies just a long fly ball from the Keys’ ballpark, one of the many features that gives Harry Grove Stadium a certain harmony with its surroundings. We like that the sightlines from its open concourse are fantastic, so grabbing a hot dog won’t mean missing a play, and the gently sloping lawns down both lines are good for shagging fly balls. In 2009, the Keys added a giant new scoreboard providing pitch speeds, counts, and up-to-the-second stats, plus a massive video board that brings some serious big-league razzle-dazzle. We like the old with the new: The coolest throwback feature is the old-school metal bleachers, perfect for hand drumming up a Keys’ rally. Know Before You Go: There’s a family-friendly picnic area on third-base side and a kid’s “Fun Zone” near right field. Also, try to catch a fireworks game (on April 10 and 24 this month), because when it comes to the rocket’s red glare, the Keys get it right. No doubt the ghost of Francis Scott would approve. What to Eat: In Frederick, it’s all about the beer, and the Brewer’s Alley brewpub stand delivers. Nothing washes down a Keys’ win like an ice-cold Brewer’s Alley Kölsch. Can’t-Miss Promo: Guaranteed Win Tuesdays (how’s that for confidence?)—if the Keys lose on a Tuesday, fans can come back for a free future Monday through Thursday game. Famous Alumni: Orioles Hall of Famer Brady Anderson donned a Keys cap back in 1990, the team’s second season. Tip From a Super Fan: Cross your fingers that they’ll bring back the Dizzy Bat races—in which fans stand on the field, spin around a bat, then race down the line. If they do, “Go slow,” says Santos, who speaks from experience. “[On one occasion], I was sure I was going to win, but halfway through, I did a face-plant in the grass.” 21 Stadium Dr., Frederick, 301-662-0013

→ Bowie Baysox
Double-A, Eastern League. Venue: Prince George’s Stadium, Bowie. First Season: 1994. Stadium Capacity: 10,000. Distance From Camden Yards: 28 miles. If the Baysox look familiar, that’s because they played their first season at old Memorial Stadium while they waited for their new digs to be built—and what digs they are. Sightlines from the left-field picnic pavilion can’t be beat, and having a roof makes this an ideal spot to wait out rain delays. If you’re feeling fancy, try the Diamond View Restaurant on the club level right behind home plate. The stadium boasts a carousel, a bounce house, and games. Prince George’s Stadium is nestled into the forest, and a line of beautiful old trees backs up to the outfield wall. On hot summer nights, you’ll swear the cicadas are singing, “Let’s play two!” Know Before You Go: Bowie is where you’ll find the brightest young Orioles stars. Hot prospect Christian Walker was a fixture on the team in 2014 and fire-balling future ace Kevin Gausman anchored the rotation in 2013. If you want to know who the Orioles’ next big hero is going to be, the Baysox are just a quick trip down I-97. What to Eat: Try the black Angus pit-beef sandwich, the Baysox’s take on this classic Maryland favorite. Can’t-Miss Promo: The force will be with the Baysox when Darth Vader and Yoda are on hand for Star Wars Night on June 13. (Note: bunting with a light saber is not allowed.) Famous Alumni: Infielder Manny Machado holds down the hot corner in Baltimore now, but in 2012, he played 109 games for Bowie, mostly at shortstop. Tip From a Super Fan: Santos says if you’re planning to ball-hawk some homers, don’t forget to pack the bug spray. “Home runs land in the trees,” says Santos. “I went out to get Manny Machado’s first home-run ball, and I got eaten alive!” Of course, if you stay in the stadium, you’ll be fine. 4101 Crain Hwy., Bowie, 301-805-6000

→ Norfolk Tides
Triple A, International League. Venue: Harbor Park Stadium, Norfolk, VA. First Season: 1993. Stadium Capacity: 11,856. Distance From Camden Yards: 233 miles. Designed by Populous, the same firm that designed Camden Yards, Harbor Park Stadium was named the best minor-league stadium in the country by Baseball America in 1995. Two decades later, it remains a gem of a ballpark. Built on the shores of the Elizabeth River, water views and the lattice-trestle of an old train drawbridge rising behind the outfield fence make Harbor Park a standout stadium. Between its low brick and concrete façade and gray, steel ramps, Harbor Park feels like a cross between a major-league stadium and a battleship—the perfect fit for this scrappy Navy town. As the premier team of the parent club, Norfolk is often your last chance to see and interact with future Orioles stars, and big-leaguers coming back from injuries stop in for a few tune-up games before heading back to the show, too. Leave your car and take the light rail from downtown or a ferry from Portsmouth across the river to the game. Know Before You Go: Norfolk is home to the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Fleet, so the National Anthem is even more special at Tides games. Local soldiers, sailors, and marines are often chosen to sing, so a word to visiting Orioles fans, leave your big “O!” in Baltimore. What to Eat: Take the Salute to Pork Challenge: Eat five pounds of pork in an hour and your meal is free, plus you get four tickets to a future game and your picture on the Wall of Fame. Can’t-Miss Promo: Navy Night in Norfolk is always special with great fireworks and the Tides wearing their special blue, digital-camo uniforms. Famous Alumni: 12-time All Star Mike Piazza played five games for the Tides in 2003. Tip From a Super Fan: The stadium restaurant, Hits at the Park, is open before games and has its own entrance to the park. “The food is awesome,” says Santos. “Skip the lines, grab a couple of beers, and be the first inside.” 150 Park Ave., Norfolk, VA, 757-622-9090